Friday 22 January 2021

Vampire the Masquerade V5 - Session Eighty Two - 'The Unbound' (Part One)

I'm currently running a Vampire the Masquerade chronicle using the 5th Edition rule-set for a small group of fellow role-players. These are the chronicles of their adventures.
Our chronicle is set in Los Angeles and features a small group of Camarilla agents sent into the 'Free States' to bring them back under Camarilla control. Over a year of plotting allowed the coterie to gain control of two North-Eastern Baronies and a large part of a third. Now they are moving on to the final stage of their campaign and have their eyes on taking over the entire city, either directly or by proxy.
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The now obligatory warning bit - Unlike my other RPG write-ups this one will contain swearing, sexual references and other references that might offend. If you can't tell the difference between real             peoples opinions and grown-ups role-playing predators who crave blood then this probably won't be for you. I've also used actual photographs to represent some characters which I'll give acknowledgements to at the end if I've any idea who they are.
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The introduction to this campaign, the first story and all the other parts can be found at the following links and are in chronological order. If you'd prefer a summary of each session rather than read everything then there's a more detailed link page HERE as well as links to the first episode of each story in the blog sidebar.
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Chronicle One - 'Infiltrate L.A.' 
Welcome to L.A. - Introductory Session
Story One - 'Three Murders' - Part OneTwo, ThreeFour and Five
Interlude Session - One
Story Two - 'The Pasadena Problem' - Part OneTwoThree, and Four
Solo Session - 'The Neillson Library'
Story Two Continued- 'The Pasadena Problem' - Part FiveSixSeven and Eight
Story Three - 'Becoming Baron' - Part OneTwoThreeFour and Five
Solo Session - 'The Gather'
Story Three Continued - 'Becoming Baron' - Part SixSeven and Eight
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Chronicle Two - 'Foothold L.A.' 
Solo Session - 'Hostile Takeover'
Story Four - 'Countdown' - Part OneTwo and Three
Story Five - 'The Missing Chantry' - Part OneTwoThreeFour and Five
Solo Session - 'The Anaheim Assassination'
Story Six - 'A Meeting of Barons' - Part OneTwo and Three
Story Seven - 'The Carmelita Situation' - Part OneTwo and Three
Story Eight - 'The Blount Sisters' - Part One and Two
Story Nine - 'Blood Money' - Part OneTwoThreeFour, Five and Six
Story Ten - 'Anathema' - Part One and Two
Story Eleven - 'Predators and Prey' aka 'The Blount Sisters' - Part Three
Story Twelve - 'Aftermath' - Part One and Two
Story Thirteen - 'The Messiah Complex' - Part OneTwoThree and Four
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Chronicle Three - 'Incursion L.A.'
Story Fourteen - 'The Rant'
Story Fifteen - 'Ties of Blood' - Part One and Two
Solo Session - 'A Gathering of Roses'
Story Sixteen - 'The Southern Solution' - Part OneTwo and Three
Story Seventeen - 'The Baker Disappearance' - Part OneTwo and Three
Story Eighteen - 'Inevitable Betrayals' - Part OneTwoThreeFour and Five
Story Nineteen - 'The Marius Contracts' - Part One and Two
Story Twenty - 'The MacNeil Protocols' - Part OneTwoThreeFourFive
Story Twenty - 'The MacNeil Protocols' - Part SixSevenEightNine and Ten
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Interlude Session One - After Griffith Park
Interlude Session Two - Divide and Conquer
Interlude Session Three - On the Brink of War
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Chronicle Four - 'Conquest L.A.'
Story Twenty One - 'Veni, Vidi, Victor' - Part OneTwoThreeFourFive
Story Twenty One - 'Veni, Vidi, Victor' - Part Six, and Epilogue
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The PC's
Michael Tomassio - Toreador, 'Baron of the North East'
Vincent 'Vin' Ghast - Brujah, 'Constable'
Dr Daniel Matthews - Banu Haqim, 'Fixer'
Hope Romero - Gangrel, 'Census Taker'
Mr Hertz - Nosferatu, 'Seneschal'

The player characters stats and backgrounds can be found HERE should any-one be interested, but be warned that the page is usually several stories ahead of the most recent write-up and may contain some spoilers. There's also some minor 'house-rules' HERE that have occurred as we went along.

As I have written out introductions and dialogue for certain NPC's and some location descriptions I'll post these more or less as I wrote them so they'll be in a 'reading to the group' style and they'll also be in blue so you can tell them apart from the more traditional write-up sections and occasionally an obscure Premonition will turn up in purple. If I think something needs a bit of out of character explanation then those will get a storytellers note that will helpfully be in red. Anything covered via player handouts will also be in blue as they're written in the same style as introductions and the like. Where particular NPC's have a mention in a faction profile you will be able to reach it by clicking on their name or faction beneath their picture.

Introduction
Michael is now looking for ways to further his scheme to unite the Barons of Los Angeles into a single council, with him being the power behind it. Meanwhile the rest of the coterie are ensuring that there are no new emerging threats to get in the way.

Storytellers Note - As this was a new story and the coterie had caused considerable chaos in the city during the previous one, I gave the players time to get in touch with all their various allies, contacts, retainers, and ghouls. This would allow them to pursue schemes that interested them, allow me to feed some new plots into the chronicle and generally let them enjoy their victory...for a little while at least...

The format for the session and this write-up is therefore slightly different. I have summarised the characters aims when meeting with their contacts and then detailed the information they gained. As I'm sure you can imagine, the information sharing between PC's took a while as they waded through their respective handouts.

The Coterie - General Information
Vera Vignes - Ventrue
Former Baroness of Pasadena
Marius has been looking into Vera Vignes for the coterie
One of the coteries first adversaries in Los Angeles was Vera Vignes, though they at first believed her husband Edward to be the problem. When her own personality is dominant she is, by kindred standards at least, a pleasant and kind individual. When the personality of the diablerised kindred possessing her is at the fore she is far more manipulative and totally lacking in empathy. This unusually makes her both an ally and enemy of the coterie. Unfortunately both share the same body...

"She's settled into San Francisco along with a lot of her personal wealth that she presumably drew from Pasadena. Had a nice Edwardian style mansion built there and has become somewhat of a patron of the arts and contributor to humanitarian charities. Of course with money comes power and her activities have given her considerable political influence in the mortal world."

"In kindred circles she's friendly with Sara Anne Winder, the cities Ventrue Primogen. Sara is Vannevars main rival and if anything happened to him she would certainly be the next Prince. Of course if that happened then Vera would almost certainly gain position on the back of that. Mistress of Elysium maybe, possibly even the vacated Primogen role. Her proximity to Sara means that going against her might well put you up against Sara's bodyguard, one Miriam Caravaggio, a Toreador individual of significant skill. She'd get on with Michael's acquaintance Sofia. They both have that 'Combat as a martial dance' vibe about them, though Miriam is far less sociable."

"On a stranger note, my informant swears blind that Vera is being accompanied by a Henry Waters who you assured me had been destroyed. I obtained a photograph of them both via one of the society papers and I'm sure you agree that it looks like Henry, and also does not..."

Though facially and in overall build Vera's companion looks like Henry he is almost an idealised, romanticised version of him. Slightly taller, more muscular and slightly more mature in appearance.

"I'll look into the matter further for you but I presumed you would find a preliminary report of some use..."

Baron Michael Tomassio
Michael had a wide variety of personal and political goals to pursue and so spoke to each of his contacts about matters appropriate to their expertise.

Don Maximillian Alonzo
Glass Walker Tribe
Don Alonzo, Pack Leader of the Glass Walker tribe
Checking in on the coteries business deal, negotiated after the werewolf civil war.

"Your Mr Hertz has arranged everything perfectly. With our new technological enterprises being facilitated by your own logistics and warehousing facilities I see a bright future ahead. Your kind may not be held in high regard by mine but you have proven yourself to be a trustworthy ally and as long as you deal with us honourably...we will return the favour..."

As expected by Mr Hertz the deal was weighed in the Glass Walkers favour but you have the advantage of being able to think long-term. very long-term in fact. Mr Hertz is also using the new logistics businesses to facilitate other coterie interests though is somewhat vague on the specifics.

Sheridan Aldred, Club Zombie Doorman
Michael requires a doorman experienced with dealing with kindred and has approached his contact at 'Club Zombie' to see if he'd be interested in a change of employer.

"I'd appreciate the challenge and it would be nice to have a change...however you'd need to ensure that Mr Fortier was okay with the arrangement or there might be unpleasant consequences for both of us..."

Michael wishes to catch-up with Damsel and through her gain some information on 'Nines' current feelings about him and what he's been up to. He also wants to subtly sound her out in reference to his plans for a more democratic system of leadership for the Free States.

"Nines? His doubts about you came back when you and Victor got friendly, but he was somewhat reassured when your lot destroyed the fucker. Nines hated Victor. To him he embodied everything that was wrong with kindred and he was always suspicious that his loyalties still lay with the Camarilla."
 
"Nines is focussed mainly now on the renovations to Skid Row that Marius's pet corporation are doing. That slightly odd, pretty boy Dillon has been running the kindred bits past us and he seems to know his shit. Nines is looking for a balance between security and accessibility...Dillon suggested an underground labyrinth...it's a bit 'out of the box' but it might work I suppose..."

"Democracy? Seriously? I'm all for it in principle but in practice there's always some Baron with power who will force everyone to dance to their tune. A council? That's been tried, not the way you're describing though...Yeah...I could go with that...Nines too with a bit of persuading..."

Mariel St. John - Ventrue
Mistress of Louis Fortier
Mariel St. John, Adopted Childe and Mistress of Baron Fortier
With Harwood out of the picture, Michael was trying to discover how this had changed things within Fortier's barony.

"Elena's gone quiet so I guess my supposition that she was planning on using Harwood against me was correct. She's gone back to using her artistic eye to decorate the homes of some of the most famous people in Los Angeles, who apparently don't find it strange that she only visits at night."

"She's wormed her way back into Louis affections of course, but I've been too successful as his voice in the outside world to replace, so my position is still more than secure. Catherine is still top of the heap though. I can't see that changing anytime soon."

Franklin Atkins, Police Captain, Ghoul of Michael
Michael had tasked Frank with seeking out any law enforcement officers and political figures that might be amicable to receiving the coterie's 'assistance' in return for a favour or two.

"Looking at expanding your influence a little? Sure, I'll keep my eyes open for any suitable candidates...

Priss - Lasombra, Baron of The Border
Priss, Baron of 'The Border'
Michael is making enquiries into how the changes in her Eastern border have affected her barony now that Marius is effectively her neighbour, not El Hermandad.

"It's certainly given me one less thing to worry about, and now my Haven has been upgraded I feel much more secure. Everyone's still convinced that I have expansion plans but to be honest I'm quite enjoying being a big fish in my own little pond for now. Here in 'The Border' my control is absolute and that's a nice position to be in."

"I still consider you to be an ally and an advisor on which I can trust. You have given me political inroads that I would have been unable to create myself and for that you have my thanks. As long as your advice doesn't become interference then we should get along swimmingly..."

Priss was brimming with confidence and seemed to be merely reiterating the parameters of their relationship. Michael could tell that the statement was 'a matter of fact' rather than a threat.

She was still dangerous of course but as long as he played this correctly, not to him. Though Michael lacks the expert eye of Vin or Daniel, it was clear that Priss's apartment building is now a fortress. Cameras, security doors, guard posts, the works in fact.

Velvet Velour, Owner of Club Vesuvius in Hollywood
Michael wished to discover if his gift of the vampiric artefact known as Martinelli's Ring had been having a positive effect upon Isaac. He also wished her input into the aesthetics of his new club and hopefully she could also provide some glamour when he eventually opened the club.

Velvet Velour - Toreador, Dancer, Club Owner

"Isaac has been much less moody lately, though he's definitely thinking more clearly too. All those little projects he'd abandoned are on the go again...now you know I can't talk about things like that...you'll have to ask him yourself..."

"I'd love to help you with your design. You should ask Heather too when she's recovered, she has a knack for that kind of thing."

"I'd love to provide you with some lovelies to brighten up the place on your opening night, I'll be there myself too of course, I presume I'm invited?...."

Isaac Abrams - Toreador
Baron of Hollywood and San Fernando
Isaac Abrams, Baron of Hollywood
Michael was curious about which of the Barons might be amicable to his idea for a more democratic Anarch Free States and who might support the concept of a new Anarch council.

"Both I and Louis can see the benefits to such an arrangement but as we rule over baronies with a relatively low kindred population we would be certain to be their representative. Allison and Gloria are popular leaders and so would also be supportive of such a council as they too would certainly have no challengers to their rule under such a system. I could go on but of course you realise that you would more than likely end up with a council consisting of all the current barons, which number eleven or thereabouts. Eleven is an unwieldy number when it comes to decision making."

"The other problem is that such a system would certainly give Marius a vote and that might concern the other barons. He has more than enough boons owed to allow him significant influence over the decisions made and that might be an issue to your plan to make the council a force for change. Unless that change suited him." "Conversely your plan would leave Nines without input and that might be an issue to some of the cities Brujah. Have you also considered centralising other roles? A census taker for the city, perhaps a war leader for dealing with united attacks by the Sabbat, Camarilla, and others? You will need such individuals if this council is to have any power to wield..."

Heather Taylor - Ghoul of Marius
Galerie Sanguine Employee
Heather, Ghoul of Marius, Galerie Sanguine Employee
Lisa Irving, Ghoul of Michael
Visiting Heather required navigating the extensive security precautions protecting the private medical facility of Aegis Medical. She was, as expected, cheerful and seemingly unaffected by her traumatic experience.

"Hello Michael, yes I'm much better. Marius gave me lots of blood so I healed inside really quick and Victoria got rid of the scars using her creepy flesh power stuff. She's made some other changes too but she says I won't notice them unless someone tries to hurt me again. Marius told her not to in the past but I think she's done it anyway."

"She fixed your ghoul Lisa too, Leanna spoke to her as well. I think she used her brain powers to stop her being all traumatised and stuff, I think she did the same to me but I'm not supposed to know as, like I said, Marius doesn't like the others messing about with me..."

Lisa has indeed made a full recovery and despite remembering the events seems to be somewhat detached from them. You have visited her in the private ward of a local hospital where her extensive bills have been taken care of by Aegis. You have also realised that Aegis medical is a far larger organisation than you previously suspected.

Shawna, Ghoul of Michael
Michael is using a visit to Shawna to gauge Karen Anatos's reaction to him and his coterie after she closed her borders. His calculation that she would treat this not as an intrusion but merely a social visit to a loyal follower has apparently paid off.

Karen Anatos - Gangrel Anathema, Multi-Media Mogul

"Karen has been very nice. The acting school is a bit intense but I'm learning a lot. Karen? Yes I saw her a few nights ago. She seemed a bit distracted but seemed to cheer up after she visited some of the workshops here. Yes, she did mention you, but only in passing. Why? Were you expecting something more?"

Carmelita Neillson - Toreador
Archaeologist and Archivist
Carmelita Neillson, Camarilla Archivist
Michael is looking for any information to help him bring Vin around to the rest of the coteries plan for Los Angeles. He and some other coterie members are concerned that Vin might believe that this is not what his Camarilla sire intended and need to be persuaded of their methods or dealt with. They have concluded that perhaps a good starting point is to gain information on his sire, Desdemona Moore.

"Desdemona? She's old school Camarilla. She believes that the Anarchs are misguided but as long as they continue to follow the masquerade that their territories should be honoured...except in cases of open war of course."

"The Sabbat she hunts mercilessly though of late she's become a bit more politically minded so is more inclined to use spies and infiltrators. Like she's using Vin to infiltrate the Anarchs. It probably means that her other childe who supposedly defected to the Sabbat is a spy too."

"Georgiana Landry was her name. Resilient as a gangrel that one, fast too...though saying that all Desdemona's childer are hard as nails, as I'm sure you know."

Desdemona 'Demonmaw' Moore
Brujah, Camarilla Praetor
"She's quite suspicious of the Banu Haqim, or the Assamites as they were known. She thought that the Tremere's ritual to prevent them committing diablerie was a necessary precaution. Now they are no longer bound by it she's extremely slow to give any of that clan the benefit of the doubt. One tried to take her out a decade or so ago which didn't help. Ironically she diablerised them, she had permission of course...but the hypocrisy wasn't lost on anyone."

"The majority of the Brujah leaving the Camarilla has weakened her influence a lot and I've heard...just between us you understand...that she's getting frustrated with the Camarilla's current stagnation which is why she's now definitely in Fiorenza's camp. She's ancient compared to Fiorenza but still see's her as a mentor of sorts. Desdemona always saw the Camarilla as the future, now I'm not so sure, possibly she now sees Fiorenza as someone with vision, I might be wrong of course. It's an odd relationship but Miss Savona's enemies have had a lot of bad luck since the 'Demonmaw' came to her side..."

"Vin's her favourite childe, closely followed by Georgiana. She likes their 'no nonsense' approaches to problem solving and the respect is mutual. If anything happened to either of them she'd hunt the culprit to the ends of the earth and make them suffer before she eventually destroyed them..."

Dr Daniel Matthews
The Young Bloods - Unbound Ghoul Gang
Daniel's primary interest at the moment is the gang of unbound ghouls known as 'The Young Bloods' who have been terrorizing the local kindred populations for some time. His investigations have, however, revealed them to be a far greater threat than he had expected.

Police Contact
"The Young Bloods gang first appeared around 1992 with half a dozen members. They gained the odd citation for minor offenses but nothing major. Since then they've expanded considerably and number about fifty or sixty members now. They've been connected with the usual offenses. You know, drugs, extortion, robbery, etc. Nothing seems to stick though."

"They seem to be operating from somewhere near Barstow, California but their exact base has been difficult to pin down."

"Bob Zalkovsky (also known as Bobby Z or Big Z) is their leader along with his girlfriend Vera. There are no criminal records for either of them.

'The Bunker' - Young Bloods Base of Operations
Investigation Teams
Your investigation teams have managed to narrow the location of the Young Bloods to Calico Ghost Town, where the military had apparently dug a bunker during the sixties and abandoned it in the eighties. Information on the facility is vague as you'd expect but it was apparently quite extensive.

The Young Bloods have seemingly moved in, and now the motorcycle club apparently calls the Bunker home. Members of the gang sometimes go off for weeks but always return in less than a month. 

Surveillance Teams
The gang are indeed based at the Bunker and range outwards from it as a central location. Local cops are certainly on their payroll as they never seem to have any trouble with local law enforcement. Their weapons appear to be legally owned which is unusual for such a gang which means they may have political help too.

They have no regular schedule for their forays out but there's never less than twenty left at the bunker and it's too well guarded to get close enough to map the layout. It is, however, more or less a fortress.

The Kindred bar known as The Last Round was an excellent place to pick up rumours. As a respected regular, Daniel could make enquiries and be reasonably sure of getting some fairly accurate information.

"There was a Toreador, Kingsley Barker, who was looking into a childe of theirs that had disappeared some years ago. Romulus, actually Eugene Bargen, but in the Los Angeles club scene, he preferred the name Romulus. He suspected that the Young Bloods had taken him and was looking for information but none of the kindred really new anything other than that the gang was dangerous to kindred and were to be avoided. You can sometimes find him at Club Zombie or more often at Club Confession if you want to talk to him. I think he's still looking, he's well connected so would certainly pay for the right information or assistance."

The Nosferatu Alonzo was a good friend of Daniel's and had detailed knowledge of the comings and goings within Los Angeles Kindred populace via his vast army of verminous informants.

"Kingsley? He's been a sculptor, artist and patron of the arts on and off under different identities for about one hundred and fifty years. He had the typical Toreador habit of embracing childer and then getting bored of them but apparently he's regretting ditching Eugene because something happened to him."

"The Young Bloods? Yes it was probably them who took him. It's difficult to keep track of such a fluid population as that of an Anarch city but I imagine that gang have others in their clutches. Also, self destruction is depressingly common amongst Anarch kindred so working out which ones were taken, which self destructed and which just left is more or less impossible. If you work on them having a stable of at least five vampire 'donors' then you'd be erring on the cautious side."

"They currently number over sixty members, most of which are ghouls. They've stopped expanding so one can presume that they've reached the limit of their supply so I'd expect a major incursion sometime soon."

Vincent 'Vin' Ghast
The Sabbat - 'The Sword of Caine'

Vin has been tasked by his sire with undertaking a search for another of her childer named Georgiana Landry. Whereas he was tasked with infiltrating the Anarchs, she had been sent to perform the same task within the Sabbat. She last checked in before apparently heading towards Los Angeles on some mission for the Sabbat that she was to turn to her sires advantage. That was a significant time ago and nothing has been heard of her since.

She is also the only other of Desdemona's childer that Vin actually liked so he is more than happy to help. If by some chance her cover was blown and her Sabbat pack destroyed her then Vin will certainly seek to avenge her if the culprits could be found.

Contacts 1 (Fight-Club Promoter), Contacts 1 (Pawnshop Employee), Contacts 1 (Street-level Fence)
Vin's low level information sources were well aware that he had contacts throughout the criminals that ran Pasadena and that keeping him happy was by far the most sensible way of staying in business.
"Yeah...we've been keeping an eye out for a woman matching the description you gave us but there's nothing so far. Yeah...we'll let you know immediately if anything comes up..."

Allies: Street People (Effectiveness 3, Reliability 3)
Vin had also circulated his 'sisters' description amongst the street people that act as his eyes and ears. Only one useful piece of information has come to light.

Hollywood Cemetery - Location of Georgiana Landry sighting

"A few of our people saw someone matching that description near the Hollywood Cemetery. They're a bit vague on the details as they had consumed quite a lot of wine but it was a year or so ago now. They remembered her as she looked like she'd been in one hell of a scrap."

The source was hardly reliable but the timeline matched her last contact with Desdemona so it could possibly have been her. The report of her condition at the time is however, more of a concern. It's also worrying that whatever occurred may well have been too long ago for Vin to be able to locate her current whereabouts.

The three Toreador known collectively as 'The Blossoms' had an arrangement of cooperation with Vin as both ran the sex-trade within their respective baronies. They shared information and other resources. They had also been giving Vin some help with the expansion of his own business interests. In this case however it was information he required. He was pleased to discover that they'd made some efforts on his behalf and also sure that he now owed them a favour in return. That was however a problem for another night. For now he just needed to know what Karla had uncovered.

"We had to cover-up an attack on a couple of our girls back before the Barony of the Angels was split up. It happened around the time your street people mentioned this wounded woman of yours so it could have been her. Did they survive? Yes actually. One of the victims still works for us though we had to have Leanna do the questioning for us as she'd blanked out a lot of the rather traumatic event and it was some time ago. Based on the description Leanna extracted from her mind I drew this for you. It's  a little stylised as the poor girl describing her was quite terrified at the time...Is this her?"


The drawing he'd been handed could easily have been a rendition of his 'sister' Georgiana. Though the trail would be very cold, he at least had a starting location from where to begin his search. He'd need to ask Marius for permission to look around that area as it was now part of his barony but he was sure that once he explained his reasons that permission would be granted. He'd get Sarah to make some copies of the picture he'd been given to distribute around amongst some of his more competent street spies so they had a better reference, too.

Mr Hertz
Roach - Malkavian
Seer, Presumed Destroyed
Roach's Files
Mr Hertz had been wading his way through the vast amount of information compiled by his predecessor Roach, a Malkavian seer who despite being quite insane was also surprisingly inciteful.

Hertz eliminated several conspiracy theory boards as though they had accurately predicted a number of events, these were in the past and could no longer be impacted upon. He also discarded those made irrelevant by recent events. This still left him with a lot to wade through.

Of particular interest to him currently was Roach's plan to build a shopping mall with added kindred friendly facilities. He'd looked into it before but with the coteries current increased financial security and Marius's Aegis Construction offering him quite competitive rates he believed that Roach's plan could be implemented. With some of the more outlandish ideas tidied up a little, that is.

This also could be tied into Michael's plan to become the guiding force behind the Barons of the Free States as it would provide an excellent meeting place. If he added office areas to the structure then he might be able to encourage a number of Pasadena businesses to move their offices there. Having them all in one location would make them far easier to influence and control.

Information Brokers
Mr Hertz has ingratiated himself with the three most significant Nosferatu information brokers within Los Angeles. He is also acquaintances with Harvey Caplan, a Ventrue former gangster who runs the South Coast docks for the Baron of that domain, Steve Booth.

Alonzo, Bertrum and Gary - Nosferatu Information Brokers

Alonzo Guillen - Nosferatu, Ancient Hollywood Warrens
"Isaac? you're the second kindred to ask me to search my files for information on his past. The first was Gary Golden but as I've already started an investigation for him then I'm sure I can copy you in on any of my findings. After all, Gary never said it was a secret."

Marius Walker - Gangrel
Baron of Downtown
"Marius? That's a dangerous individual to go snooping into the affairs of so in all honesty I haven't looked through Dexter's journals at all for references to him and my verminous spies avoid his bases of operations. Just between us? Oh, go one then...I'll see what I can find out...but I'm going nowhere near that mad bitch who lives under his barony..."

Bertrum Tung, Nosferatu, Downtown
"You're concerned about Marius's goals in the city? Isn't everyone? Of late he's had me searching for references to his sire Xaviar and his activities while acting as Justicar. Why? I didn't ask as I'd quite like my soul to remain within my body..."

Gary Golden, Nosferatu, Hollywood Warrens
"Issac has suddenly become a lot more proactive with the running of his barony. It's put the frighteners into a lot of his contacts who had gotten used to running their own affairs and skimming extra's off the top and hoping he wouldn't notice. That dangerous intellect is back and all those with whom he has influence are now getting a feel for what a proactive Isaac Abrams is capable of. He's taken back control of pretty much everything and did it in less than three weeks..."

"Affect us? Not particularly. I had a rare meeting with him at The Asp Hole where he reiterated his terms for our continued presence beneath his Barony. He also had an unusual number of investigative tasks for us. Mind? not really. Performing routine tasks such as these had always been the price for us dwelling below Hollywood. I'd just got used to him not asking anything of us so it came as somewhat of a surprise, that's all..."

Harvey Caplan - Ventrue
Harvey Caplan, Ventrue, Los Angeles Port and Dockyard
"Your advice about whacking those followers of Victors was spot on, as was sending Marius their fangs. The timing was fortunate as I've recently incurred some additional responsibilities now I'm running the entire docks and needed some problems 'Fixing'. His terms were surprisingly reasonable which I attribute to the goodwill I've gained based on your recommendations. So I owe you one."

Storytellers Note - In mechanical terms, Mr Hertz now has a Major Boon to cash in with Harvey should he ever require it.

"Now you know I can't give you info on what shipments come and go for the other barons...well okay...here's a snippet or two. Vinicius 'Hunters' pack have taken their drug boats out of dry dock and started going out quite regularly. Isaac's also had his own boat serviced and sailed here from it's own docks in Europe. No idea why but he paid handsomely for the service and staff I provided. Cargo? No...Isaac's got a yacht, a very large and expensive custom made one too. Perhaps he's expecting guests?"

Hope Romero
Hope had become increasingly obsessed with improving her capabilities via hunting more and more dangerous opponents. She had recently heard of a group of werewolf hunting kindred known as 'The Anubi'. She is also seeking to learn more about the Bahari as currently she has barely scratched the surface of their beliefs. 

The Anubi
Marius was happy to share what information he had on The Anubi but seemed somewhat reticent to point her at a specific organisation. "Give me a bit of time to make some introductions. This isn't something you want to blunder into unprepared..."

The Lupine attack on Chicago was a stark reminder of how vulnerable Kindred are to werewolf assault.

"The Princes of the Camarilla looked to Milwaukee, and its guardians the Anubi, for a solution. Led by Milwaukee’s Prince, Mark Decker, the Anubi are the Camarilla’s premier force of Lupine hunters. They are well organized, well equipped, and determined to repulse every Lupine incursion into the city.

Other cities began emulating Milwaukee’s model with mixed results. Many coteries failed due to inexperience or left their posts when Clan Gangrel abandoned the Camarilla. Others overthrew their Princes or became the kingmakers of their domain. A few even sided with the Anarchs, defending the Baronies of the Free States and newly acquired Anarch cities.

More successful Princes recruited Gangrel with greater loyalty to their city than to their clan, or built mixed-membership coteries by offering money, special privileges, hunting rights, or boons. Even the legendary Anubi had to offer grants of hunting grounds to young Kindred after many of their members abandoned Milwaukee in the face of Sabbat invasion. These newly formed coteries are as deadly as the Lupines they hunt. Some, like the Sun Devils of Phoenix or the all-Ventrue 'Hunt Club' of Quebec, maintain the Anubi’s militant structure and battle Lupines nightly. Others, like 'The Pack' of Vancouver or the mixed Lasombra/ Toreador 'Order of Saint Sabastian' in Rio de Janeiro, wield diplomacy as effectively as silver to forge tentative (although not lasting) treaties with their local Lupines."

The Bahari
Mary, 'Mother' of the Bahari within the Anarch free States was more than happy to speak about Lilith to an initiate who sought to advance herself within their faith. Mary was also intrigued that unlike Marius who had apparently initially trained her, Hope's focus was upon Lilith herself, rather than merely venerating her as the mother of Ennoia, the Gangrel Antediluvian.

"Vampire adherents of the Path of Lilith, otherwise known as the Lilin, Lilitu, or Bahari, revere the progenitor vampire as primal femininity. They believe Lilith is the first, usurped vampire, the mother who births the vitae, and that all Kindred are her children. Stagnant, patriarchal vampire society perpetuates the lie of Caine as progenitor.

The Bahari seek enlightenment through pain and conflict, turning this masochistic urge into the strength to endure and overcome. As Lilith rebelled against God’s commands and fought against her curse, her followers defeat the weaknesses and curses upon them to become something else. Some Bahari lead other Kindred to enlightenment, others become perfected predators. Bahari deprecate compassion in favour of fleshly pleasure, transient love, and strict parenthood over lesser Kindred.

As a Bahari, you must fulfil the role of torturer, student, teacher, or lover to other Kindred. All evidence points to Lilith as the first, usurped vampire."


In Conclusion
I like to do a round-up of how the session went in these features but if you couldn't give a shit what I think then feel free to skip this bit...

This was actually harder work than writing an actual chronicle session, lol. Back to normal next session. Lets see what the players do with all these new plotlines to choose from...

Acknowledgements
Portions of the materials are the copyrights and trademarks of White Wolf Entertainment AB, and are used with permission. All rights reserved.

I've used pictures of real people to represent some of the characters and art for others so in no particular order Michael Tomassio is represented by Matt Bomer, 'Vin' is Scott Adkins, Dr Matthews is Mads Mikkelsen, Hope is Deborah Ann Woll, Mr Hertz is Charles Dance, Vera Vignes is Helen Mirren, Don Maximillian Alonzo is Stacy Keach, 
Damsel is Irina Delnova, Mariel St. John is Kate Moss, Priss is Sofia Boutella, Isaac Abrams is Gary Oldman, Heather Taylor is Liz Vicious, Karen Anatos is Christina Hendricks, Carmelita Neillson is Salma Hayek, Desdemona Moore is Amanda Donohoe, The Blossoms (Tayla Quintana is Alyssa Milano, Karla Bray is Rose McGowan and Lottie Noble is Holly Marie Combs), 'Roach' is Kurt Cobain, Marius Walker is Tony Curran and Harvey Caplan is Harvey Keitel

Everything else is from vampire related folders and searches and is as far as I know is all of the 'fair use' variety. If there's something that you feel should be attributed to some-one then feel free to let me know and I'll happily add an acknowledgement.

Friday 15 January 2021

Vampire the Masquerade V5 - Session Eighty One - Veni, Vidi, Victor (Epilogue)

I'm currently running a Vampire the Masquerade chronicle using the 5th Edition rule-set for a small group of fellow role-players. These are the chronicles of their adventures.
Our chronicle is set in Los Angeles and features a small group of Camarilla agents sent into the 'Free States' to bring them back under Camarilla control. Over a year of plotting allowed the coterie to gain control of the three North-Eastern Baronies and a large part of a fourth. Now they are moving on to the final stage of their campaign and have their eyes on taking over the entire city, either directly or by proxy.
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The now obligatory warning bit - Unlike my other RPG write-ups this one will contain swearing, sexual references and other references that might offend. If you can't tell the difference between real             peoples opinions and grown-ups role-playing predators who crave blood then this probably won't be for you. I've also used actual photographs to represent some characters which I'll give acknowledgements to at the end if I've any idea who they are.
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The introduction to this campaign, the first story and all the other parts can be found at the following links and are in chronological order. If you'd prefer a summary of each session rather than read everything then there's a more detailed link page HERE as well as links to the first episode of each story in the blog sidebar.
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Chronicle One - 'Infiltrate L.A.' 
Welcome to L.A. - Introductory Session
Story One - 'Three Murders' - Part OneTwo, ThreeFour and Five
Interlude Session - One
Story Two - 'The Pasadena Problem' - Part OneTwoThree, and Four
Solo Session - 'The Neillson Library'
Story Two Continued- 'The Pasadena Problem' - Part FiveSixSeven and Eight
Story Three - 'Becoming Baron' - Part OneTwoThreeFour and Five
Solo Session - 'The Gather'
Story Three Continued - 'Becoming Baron' - Part SixSeven and Eight
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Chronicle Two - 'Foothold L.A.' 
Solo Session - 'Hostile Takeover'
Story Four - 'Countdown' - Part OneTwo and Three
Story Five - 'The Missing Chantry' - Part OneTwoThreeFour and Five
Solo Session - 'The Anaheim Assassination'
Story Six - 'A Meeting of Barons' - Part OneTwo and Three
Story Seven - 'The Carmelita Situation' - Part OneTwo and Three
Story Eight - 'The Blount Sisters' - Part One and Two
Story Nine - 'Blood Money' - Part OneTwoThreeFour, Five and Six
Story Ten - 'Anathema' - Part One and Two
Story Eleven - 'Predators and Prey' aka 'The Blount Sisters' - Part Three
Story Twelve - 'Aftermath' - Part One and Two
Story Thirteen - 'The Messiah Complex' - Part OneTwoThree and Four
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Chronicle Three - 'Incursion L.A.'
Story Fourteen - 'The Rant'
Story Fifteen - 'Ties of Blood' - Part One and Two
Solo Session - 'A Gathering of Roses'
Story Sixteen - 'The Southern Solution' - Part OneTwo and Three
Story Seventeen - 'The Baker Disappearance' - Part OneTwo and Three
Story Eighteen - 'Inevitable Betrayals' - Part OneTwoThreeFour and Five
Story Nineteen - 'The Marius Contracts' - Part One and Two
Story Twenty - 'The MacNeil Protocols' - Part OneTwoThreeFourFive
Story Twenty - 'The MacNeil Protocols' - Part SixSevenEightNine and Ten
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Interlude Session One - After Griffith Park
Interlude Session Two - Divide and Conquer
Interlude Session Three - On the Brink of War
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Chronicle Four - 'Conquest L.A.'
Story Twenty One - 'Veni, Vidi, Victor' - Part OneTwoThreeFourFive
Story Twenty One - 'Veni, Vidi, Victor' - Part Six
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The PC's
Michael Tomassio - Toreador, 'Baron of the North East'
Vincent 'Vin' Ghast - Brujah, 'Constable'
Dr Daniel Matthews - Banu Haqim, 'Fixer'
Hope Romero - Gangrel, 'Census Taker'
Mr Hertz - Nosferatu, 'Seneschal'

The player characters stats and backgrounds can be found HERE should any-one be interested, but be warned that the page is usually several stories ahead of the most recent write-up and may contain some spoilers. There's also some minor 'house-rules' HERE that have occurred as we went along.

As I have written out introductions and dialogue for certain NPC's and some location descriptions I'll post these more or less as I wrote them so they'll be in a 'reading to the group' style and they'll also be in blue so you can tell them apart from the more traditional write-up sections and occasionally an obscure Premonition will turn up in purple. If I think something needs a bit of out of character explanation then those will get a storytellers note that will helpfully be in red. Anything covered via player handouts will also be in blue as they're written in the same style as introductions and the like. Where particular NPC's have a mention in a faction profile you will be able to reach it by clicking on their name or faction beneath their picture.

Storytellers Note - Due to a Covid related local lockdown in the area in which I live, our group is currently unable to meet up in person. We have therefore done this session via 
messengers video 'room' app.

Introduction
Victor Girard - Toreador
Destroyed
Los Angeles Anarch's are still recovering from yet another upheaval within the Free States.

A civil war within El Hermandad was crushed by an unprecedented alliance of old friends, older enemies and many others who had become convinced that Victor Girard was about to become dangerously close to a Prince in all but name. An El Hermandad under Baron Martinez was perceived to be a far better option than a Los Angeles under a puppet of Victor.

Rightly blaming the coterie of Baron Tomassio for the failure of his plan, Victor sent agents to attack Michael's presumed haven and base of operations, The Galerie Sanguine. Though this assault cost Baron Tomassio many of his mortal agents and resulted in the grievous wounding of one of his most trusted ghouls, it was ultimately repulsed by defences put in place against just such an eventuality.

It seems that the coterie's retaliation was more effective than Girard's provocation and on this occasion he was unable to do his usual trick of disappearing into the background and waiting for another opportunity. Victor it seems has paid the ultimate price for his failure, namely Final Death.

The coterie were being somewhat vague about how exactly they accomplished this destruction as to be specific would require them to reveal the assistance given to them by the Toreador Elder, Christopher Houghton and his bloodthirsty childe and bodyguard, Joaquin Murietta, who was possibly the most prolific mass murderer in California's history.

Toreador Elder Christopher Houghton and his Childe Joaquin Murietta

It seems that the notoriously fickle Christopher has become fascinated with Michael Tomassio, though the coterie is currently unsure about whether the benefits of this obsession will outweigh the potential disadvantages that his interferences might create.

Heather - Ghoul of Marius
As far as the Anarch's of L.A. are concerned, the coterie took revenge for an assault on their barony and in doing so eliminated a threat to the Free States. However matters have been further complicated by some collateral damage. Heather, a favoured blood doll and ghoul of Marius was also nearly killed during Victors attack. 

Apparently the destruction of Victor was not enough to satisfy the Gangrel's desire for vengeance and he has struck against what remained of the Toreador media magnates remaining followers.

Half a dozen of Victors kindred who thought they had escaped the alliance of kindred set against him were proven wrong as Marius and his childer located each one and put them to Final Death in a variety of unpleasant ways. Some claim that he diablerised each and every one, though this seems unlikely it is not impossible. 

Two who attempted to escape via Harvey Caplan's docks were destroyed by Harvey's own enforcers after they violently objected to being refused passage. It seems that the good will of Baron's Martinez, Maller, Walker, Boyd and Tomassio was more important than the profit, on this occasion at least. Their fangs were sent to Marius by Harvey, a gesture that was, apparently, well received. For a gangster, Harvey has a surprising talent for diplomacy.

Harvey Caplan - Ventrue
De facto Baron of the Docks
In fact it was Mr Hertz who informed Harvey to expect some refugees from Victor's forces. He also warned him of the political situation and the number of potential enemies that granting them passage was likely to gain him. Harvey understood perfectly that allowing Victor's kindred to escape the wrath of the cities kindred population could easily be construed as him picking a side. As that side had already lost, Harvey wisely demonstrated that he wasn't, nor had ever been, one of Victor's stooges. Mr Hertz himself suggested that sending their fangs to Marius would add extra weight to that fact. Harvey appreciated the updating of the old 'fish in a bulletproof vest' trope and did as suggested.

Eboni, Dante and the thin-bloods who supported Victor's ally Ralph Harwood have been hunted down and destroyed. Only Bartosz has been spared after his intention to leave Harwoods organisation had been confirmed by several independent sources. These included Isaac 'Ike' Griffith of the Brujah Fight Club, The enforcer Vin from the North-East Baronies of Baron Tomassio and 'The Blossoms, from Marius's own Barony.

Bartosz has now gained employment with 'Ike', who has made it clear that he now considers the matter of Bartosz's former connection to Victor to be closed. Vin had discovered that the majority of the Brujah 'Fight Clubs' in both Anarch and Camarilla cities were effectively franchises under the influence of 'Ike' himself.

Brujah Fight Club

This effectively meant that the Fight Club founder was more than likely owed favours by a considerable number of combat hardened Brujah and therefore more than capable of enforcing his decisions. Those few kindred who had seen him fight had also confirmed that he quite able to enforce his point of view on a personal level, should he so desire.

Isaac Abrams and Karen Anatos - Marius's Competitors

Aegis Acquisitions has acquired the remainder of the legitimate mortal enterprises under Victors influence, stripped them of assets and then closed them for good. They are not the only kindred ran organisation to take advantage however and several others such as Thorne Multi-Media, ran by the Gangrel anathema Karen Anatos and Baron Isaac Abrams Golden Age Productions have also picked at the corpse of Woodland Media. These latter two organisations have been somewhat less destructive with their purchases, their primary motivation being profit, not vengeance.

Steve Booth - Brujah
Baron of the South Coast
Somewhat more controversial are other violent events surrounding Victor's supporters in other Baronies. Two of Steve Booth's Brujah who had been vocal supporters of Victor were found in their havens, staked and dismembered, with their fangs removed.

Retaliation seems unlikely as Baron Booth was no fonder of Victor than any of the other Barons and the removal of those attempting to recruit his people to the cause of another was possibly a blessing in disguise. It is however a trespass into the domain of another Baron, made without permission, and Baron Booth has every right to seek reparations.

As well as purging the city of any trace of Victor, Marius has also had meetings with three of the cities Barons. After meeting with Gloria Martinez and Allison Maller, Aegis clean-up teams sanitised their baronies of any trace of the kindred battles that had occurred across them. Then after a meeting with Hank Boyd, The Crypts Sons Baron promptly personally executed one of his own gang, his most trusted advisor Twain Martinez. His reasons are unknown though the prevailing theory is that they were revealed to be a traitor in Victors employ.

One of the main talking points of the kindred across the city is why exactly Marius is yet to meet with Baron Tomassio. Surely this would have been one of his first priorities?

Scene Thirty Seven - Upgrades
Dillan Fitzgerald - Malkavian
Aegis Construction
Michael's phone rings, it's the number given to him by Aegis's architect Dillan.

"Evening Baron. Marius told me that you've agreed payment for the upgrades to your bunker, night-club and some security upgrades to your gallery so I'm sending over the final plans with a messenger in an hour or so. They shouldn't need any alterations or additions, they're quite comprehensive but if there's anything I overlooked then let me know. You can let Marius know when he visits you later..."

Michael knew that he had had no such conversation with Marius about payment despite Dillon seemingly being convinced that the go-ahead had been given. Michael kept this to himself, though mention of a visit was something he needed to clarify. "I wasn't aware that I was expecting a visit from Marius..." queried Michael.

"Oh?" replied Dillan, seemingly surprised. "Rosa mentioned it so I presumed it had been arranged. "Anyway, I need to go now, Miss Pisha needs an extension to her laboratory for some reason..." he then hangs up.

Michael quickly messaged the rest of the coterie to inform them that they were receiving a visitor. As he hadn't spoken to Marius since the incident with Heather he decided that he'd want as much back-up available as possible should things go badly. Firstly though he arranged for Daniel and Vin to be there to look over the practical features of these new designs he was apparently about to receive.

Ewan Blake - Mortal
Partial Blood Bond to Dillan
A well dressed young-man with the air of a student of the arts delivers several plans and designs to you. He seems to be very interested in the design and works of the gallery though does comment that the art section seems a little sparse before leaving.

Subsequent research identified them as Ewen Blake, a partially blood-bound mortal who works for Dillan. He is apparently one of many but is Dillan's current 'favourite'. It also seems that Dillan believes that a full blood bond stifles creativity so only ever partially bonds his proteges.

Successful candidates find themselves with lucrative jobs within the Aegis group whereas unsatisfactory 'employees' end up testing Dillan's less pleasant creations and are never seen again. 

For the protection of MacNeils recently rediscovered computer system Dillan had gone with a variation of the last set of drawings he had shown them. The maze was a counterintuitive mass of dead ends, blind corners and bottlenecks where a defender could hold off a force five times their size. 

Several cleverly hidden passages would also allow someone in the know to bypass a dug-in enemy should it become necessary. Areas could be sealed off, effectively becoming prisons or tombs depending on the whims of whether the one who activated the trap ever decided to release them. Daniel approved of the strategic properties and even Vin seemed impressed.

Kindred Nightclub
Of more interest to Michael was the designs for his own succubus Club. Dillan had combined many of Michael's ideas with his own unique sense of design and created an establishment with myriad nooks and crannies, separate yet connected, across multiple levels.

This was mirrored below ground by a kindred equivalent with day-rooms and a separate meeting room connected into the sewer system below Hollywood. It also had several escape routes should an enemy come calling or one simply wished to avoid unwanted attention. Michael noted that the sewer access was similar in design to the one below Marius's Hollywood club 'The Asp Hole' but more elaborate and with a bigger focus upon the aesthetics. The sewer access within the Asp Hole had been added much later of course, whereas in the case of Michael's club Dillan had the benefit of working with a blank slate.

Though only mentioned to him in passing, Dillan had drawn up plans to upgrade the security of galerie sanguine to an incredible degree. Each section could be separated with armoured doors, three panic rooms had been cleverly designed into the existing structure and monitoring systems that were beyond state of the art had been created to eliminate any blind spots either approaching or inside the building.

It also seemed from the upgraded security room, that Dillan expected two, seven man security teams from Mercury security to be based within the building. There were also several areas with runes marked upon them, presumably supernatural defences to replace those triggered by the gallery's recent uninvited guests. Michael presumed that Marius already had someone in mind to create such wards as they were surely a requirement in the havens of other kindred.

Both Vin and Daniel began to look more closely at the security measures that had been put in place and neither could detect any exploitable weaknesses. It seemed that Dillan was very, very good at his job.

Scene Thirty Eight - An Unlife for a Life
Marius Walker - Gangrel
Baron of Downtown and 'Fixer'
Marius is dressed much as he was when you first met him, expensive clothes and accessories though with little care taken of them. He seems to be favouring his left side as if he has suffered an injury too severe to heal from quickly. There is also something about the look in his eyes that is dangerously predatory even by his usual standards. Whatever he has been up to has evidently changed him in more ways than a mere physical injury.

"Do you mind if I take a seat? I still have a large hole where my floating ribs were and I'm not entirely sure that all my other bones are where they're meant to be..."

Daniel could tell that Marius's skeletal structure seemed to have been misaligned and twisted. The Banu Haqim had once had to regenerate a mere severed finger and it had taken considerable levels of concentration and quantities of vitae to do so. He could only imagine the effort required to repair an entire body. 

On closer inspection it looked to Daniel by virtue of his medical expertise that Marius's ribcage had been collapsed inwards towards his heart as if some enemy had attempted to skewer his heart with his own bones. Noticing Daniel observing him, Marius began to explain.

The Blount Sisters - Toreador
Destroyed
"The surviving Blount Sister has been destroyed, Call it a gift. I owed you a life, though I imagined an unlife would be preferable, especially this one. She was quite intent on your destruction and had quite a shrine dedicated to even the most vague piece of information connected to you. She planned to eliminate your ghouls, then touchstones and finally yourselves. I could taste the hate when I drained her soul. Stupid bitch."

Marius then tosses a couple of polaroid pictures of the aforementioned shrine onto the table along with a bloody knitting needle. "A souvenir." he says.

Storytellers Note - This will make more sense if you read this story HERE.

The pictures indicated that the surviving Blount sister had been gathering information on the coterie for quite some time and had clearly established the identities and locations of those individuals who were most precious to them. All the coterie had experienced the death-trap and slaughterhouse that the Blounts had called home and could easily imagine the fate of those they cared for if they had fell into the clutches of the surviving sister.

"We had a visit from Dillan earlier." said Michael, changing the subject. "He seemed to be under the impression that we had arranged terms for his services..." Marius, as before, had an explanation.

"To be frank, the security upgrades to the gallery are to protect Heather who inexplicably wished to return to working for you. Protecting the system is as useful to me as to you and Dillan's ideas for your bar were intriguing but somewhat out of your price range, I wanted to see what he could achieve given free reign so I made up the difference myself."

The bit about the gallery security rang true, the rest was quite obviously bollocks. It was clear that Marius was grateful for Heather being saved but wouldn't come out and say so. Most suspected that she was a rare chink in his armour, but admitting it openly was something that 'The Fixer' was unlikely to do. "On the subject of Heather..." interrupted Vin. "...I hear you've been busy yourself..."

Marius smiled grimly and the look in his eyes became dangerous once more.

Bartosz Harrison - Brujah
Employee of 'Ike'
"All of Victor's allies, both obvious and concealed, are now destroyed. Only one associated kindred has been spared, namely Bartosz, who had a number of kindred of influence ready to vouch for him. He now has found employment with Ike which puts him out of my reach even if I felt like destroying him. Though I suppose the occasional show of mercy is necessary..." It was clear that he had considered Bartosz's destruction and that the show of mercy had been forced upon him. 

The mention of Ike's name had intrigued both Vin and Daniel. Vin was a regular attendee of the Brujah Fight Club and Daniel had fought there himself on occasion. In fact it was at that club that Daniel had killed the Baron of San Diego's emissary and made it look like an accident. Something in Marius's tone seemed to indicate that he had a less than positive opinion of 'Ike'. Vin asked him as much. "Ike? We had a disagreement three, no, four hundred years or so ago."

"And he's still around?" asked Daniel, somewhat incredulously. Marius's enemies usually had extremely short unlives. Marius's smile was slightly more genuine this time.

"Yes, and I've no wish to fight him again." continued Marius "Of course my blood was far less potent so that gave him the advantage despite the fact that, in my opinion at least, we were equal in skill."

Isaac 'Ike' Griffith - Brujah
'Brujah Fight Club' Founder
This caught the attention of them all. Marius's defeats were few and far between and he almost never discussed them with anyone.

"He had the edge in experience as well of course. Now I have the edge in raw power, but I doubt he's got worse at combat, quite the opposite in fact, so it's possible that his improved skills could counter that. It's a battle the result of which gains me nothing, so it's pure conjecture." His expression cast some doubt on this final statement and it was obvious to the more martial members of the coterie that Marius would quite like a chance to prove himself Ike's better. "He moves around a lot anyway, he has operations all over the world you see so he's not in the city enough for him to become a threat to the status quo." concluded Marius, apparently deciding to end this topic of conversation.

"How did your visit with Garcia's childer go?" asked Michael. His tone was casual but the question was serious. He wished to make himself the advisor to Gloria Martinez and Allison Maller in Victor's place and was suspicious that Marius had had the same idea.

"Baron's Maller and Martinez? They had considerable clean-up requirements after their campaigns against Victor and his followers. To be honest It's possible I undercharged them, but as they were acting against Victor I may have taken that into account. The other barons who helped out weren't exactly careful about leaving a mess either so there was a lot to do. They were quite talkative in fact, particularly on the subject of their reticent to allow a second opinion to influence their activities in future, especially after they mistakenly let Victor into their camp..."

Gloria Martinez - El Hermandad Baron, Allison Maller - Baron of Anaheim

Michael was curious about what advice, if any, that Marius had given them.

"I told them that seeking a second opinion wasn't a bad idea. I myself have many individuals against which I bounce ideas. I don't always take their advice, but I do listen to it. I gave them my opinion that the seneschal or advisor role was a good idea, they had just picked a piss-poor one in that self-centred, two-faced prick, Victor..." The coterie's attention was then piqued as Marius mentioned that he had given them three names of kindred that would make good advisors or Mawla's. Michael was particularly interested in who his three rivals were about to be. It was therefore a big surprise that one of the names given was his own.

Baron Abrams of Hollywood, Toreador - Baron Fortier of West L.A., Ventrue

"I told them to pick someone with experience at leadership, with their own established and stable power bases whose advice could be relied on to be impartial as they were already secure. I gave them a short-list of names consisting of Isaac Abram's, Louis Fortier and yourself." he concluded, addressing Michael directly.

Karen Anatos - Gangrel Anathema
'Having a Tantrum'
"I'm honoured that you considered me..." relied Michael. "...it's certainly puts me in illustrious company." Michael was also reasonably sure that neither Isaac or Louis would be particularly interested in the role which left the path open for him to continue with his own plan. He was surprised that Marius had no desire to influence them himself but kept that opinion to himself. "Have you been in touch with Karen Anatos?" asked Michael, changing the subject once more. "She has closed her borders and has been reluctant to speak to any of her neighbours." It was Marius's opinion that she was having a bit of a tantrum after losing a valued ghoul and that it would be a good idea to stay out of her way until she calmed down.

"I spoke to my sire..." interjected Vin. "...she mentioned that a lot of your childer are heading to the city." Both Michael and Daniel noted that Marius had tensed slightly as Vin had began to spoke and then relaxed when the subject raised was his childer. Evidently he had been expecting something different.

"It become necessary to ensure I had adequate cannon fodder. Vannevar is sure to make a move on San Jose whether he has Camarilla support or not. It may seem somewhat impetuous given that they've repelled him before, but this time he's prepared. He has the area thoroughly mapped and has been training forces specifically for the task. When he makes his move he'll roll over them without even feeling the bumps. I'll attempt to extract a couple of their more useful kindred if I can but I'm not risking any of my own assets to do it."

Vannevar Thomas - Prince of San Francisco
The explanation was plausible, though his assessment of Vannevar's aims and capabilities was somewhat alarming. Michael stated that he would not allow the Prince of San Francisco to also become the Prince of Los Angeles. The rest of the coterie confirmed that they too would be opposed to such a change within the city. Only Vin paused before replying. Possibly as their stated mission in the Free States was to take it for the Camarilla.

Mr Hertz's considerations usually boiled down to numbers in some form or another so it was he who asked just how much 'cannon-fodder' the city was likely to see. If anything, Marius's reply was less reassuring than his assessment of Vannevar.

"I'm not sure how many have survived the journey. Talon almost certainly will make it, Rebecca too. Maybe Vein if he makes it through Mexico without The Butchers Pack eating him. They never got on. The pack I had in the Sabbat, the Hunters of Ennoia...they'll need a name change now I think about it...should arrive within the week, they'd retrieved all the intelligence that they were going to. A few of the other packs under my influence have been given more specific tasks. If they succeed they'll be rewarded, if not then fuck 'em."

Desdemona Moore - Brujah
Camarilla Praetor, Sire of Vin
It seemed that Marius's somewhat haphazard method of parenting hadn't changed.

Vin made a mental note to see if his sire had any other information on these potential disruptive childer of Marius's. Daniel also made note of the names though he intended to ask his sources within the city instead.

The coterie was also concerned about what would happen to the populace of San Jose in the event of an invasion by the Camarilla. Michael then offered his own barony as a fall-back position should any of them wish to withdraw from a potential conflict. "To live to fight another day." so to speak. It was the opinion of Marius that the Brujah of San Jose would fight until their destruction though a couple of the more pragmatic Gangrel might withdraw if given the opportunity. "Their de-facto leader, Elspeth might be persuaded to abandon the area if she believed that she was withdrawing to a staging point from which she could counter-attack." theorised Marius.

Tara Kearney - Brujah
Baron of San Diego
The more combat orientated coterie members were somewhat surprised to find that this was exactly what Michael was offering. It seemed that he was beginning to accept that sometimes an aggressive response was the only option available.

"If there's nothing else..." said Marius, as he began to rise. "..I have other business to take care of before the end of the night." Daniel offered to escort the Baron of Downtown to his vehicle. Michael could tell that he wanted to have a private discussion so allowed Daniel to do as he had suggested.

Daniel laid out his idea that if San Jose was a lost cause anyway then perhaps they could use Vannevar's incursion to their advantage. If they left evidence at the incursion locations that made Vannevar believe that the recent assassination of one of his scouting forces was by another of the coteries enemies then perhaps both his and their forces could be weakened.

Specifically, Daniel wished to point him towards Baron Tara of San Diego who he was sure still had designs on Los Angeles. Marius said that he'd give the plan some consideration.

His new chauffeur was waiting outside and opened the back door for Marius who paused briefly to let his large Famulus pet enter first. The large wolf-like dog had been waiting patiently outside the gallery during the meeting

Scene Thirty Nine - Back to Business
The Last Round
Daniel headed to the Last Round to see what rumours he could pick up from the regulars there. The construction work to renovate Skid Row was well underway. Unfortunately this increase in mortal activity in the area and the amount of official looking personnel in the area had put off a lot of the kindred who normally visited the Last Round. This meant that Daniel picked up very little information of consequence. 

He learned that the two kindred who had left the Crypts Sons were now acting as sweepers for the Gangrel pseudo baronies of Santa Clarita and Simi Valley, that the Brujah Fight Club allowed Caitiff to fight as long as they had a Brujah sire and that the main topic of conversation currently was which of their coterie had destroyed Victor and how. None of this was particularly useful but Daniel filed it away, just in case.

The Blossoms - Toreador
Vin checked to make sure that his ghoul Sarah had no issues and then went to visit Karla of the Blossoms. The three Toreador who ran Downtown's sex trade for Marius had been surprisingly willing to pass on their knowledge to him and his own business was thriving like never before. 

In return he had performed a few minor enforcement tasks for them that had enabled them to minimise the amount of times they needed to bother Marius. This had, in turn, increased their own status within Downtown as Marius now left them alone as long as his percentage arrived promptly. 

Sarah's increased competence as an assistant had also freed up more of Vin's own nights. This was useful as his Sire had tasked him with locating his sister of the blood, Georgiana Landry who hadn't reported in for some time. Her last movements were towards the city undertaking some tasks to further her cover as an agent of the Sabbat. as this was a personal matter he was yet to bother the coterie with it.

Reuben Hart - Ghoul
'Boss' of 'The Apostles'
Mr Hertz's working relationship with Harvey Caplan, the gangster who ran the South Coastal ports and docks of Los Angeles, had turned his gang 'The Apostles' operations into one of the smoothest running criminal operations in the city. With his criminal operations more or less running themselves, Hertz had sought out new challenges to occupy himself. The investigations, both real and imagined, of his predecessor Roach, had been put into storage in one of the coteries secure areas in case the Malkavian seer ever returned. Mr Hertz had discovered them and was attempting to decode what he could. There was a surprising amount of useful information within. It was just like breaking a code and that was a challenge that the Nosferatu enjoyed.

Michael reached for his substantial list of contacts and arranged meetings and calls with them all, one by one. The political landscape of the city had changed once more and it was up to him to see what he and the coterie could gain from the chaos.

Hope returned to her patrols. With an effective force of five sweepers now at her disposal and with a smaller area to patrol, she was free to pursue her own quest to perfect her skills as a warrior. Of course this required seeking out more and more dangerous prey... 


In Conclusion
I like to do a round-up of how the session went in these features but if you couldn't give a shit what I think then feel free to skip this bit...

The players characters are beginning to have their own agendas and goals that could potentially split the coterie. 

Only one of them is still following the mission for which they were sent to the city with any degree of accuracy. The rest are creatively interpreting their instructions or have effectively 'gone native'. It will be interesting to see whether they reach a balance or implode. Well...interesting for me at least.

For now I need to go and make a shitload of handouts as the players hit up every single one of their contacts...see you next week I hope.

Acknowledgements
Portions of the materials are the copyrights and trademarks of White Wolf Entertainment AB, and are used with permission. All rights reserved.

I've used pictures of real people to represent some of the characters and art for others so in no particular order Michael Tomassio is represented by Matt Bomer, 'Vin' is Scott Adkins, Dr Matthews is Mads Mikkelsen, Hope is Deborah Ann Woll, Mr Hertz is Charles Dance, Victor Girard is Bob Hoskins, Joaquín Murietta is Danny Trejo, Heather is Liz Vicious, Harvey Caplan is Harvey Keitel, Isaac Abrams is Gary Oldman, Karen Anatos is Christina Hendricks, Dillan Fitzgerald is Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ewan Blake is Tom Sturridge, Marius Walker is Tony Curran, Bartosz Harrison is Quinton Jackson, Isaac 'Ike' Griffith is Jason Statham, Gloria Martinez is Ariadne Artiles, Allison Maller is Chloe Grace Moretz, Isaac Abrams is Gary Oldman, Louis Fortier is Eduardo Verástegui, Prince Vannevar Thomas is Bryan Dechart, Desdemona Moore is Amanda Donohoe, Tara Kearney is Melissa Rauch, The Blossoms are (Tayla Quintana is Alyssa Milano, Karla Bray is Rose McGowan and Lottie Noble is Holly Marie Combs) and Reuben Hart is ray Liotta.

Everything else is from vampire related folders and searches and is as far as I know is all of the 'fair use' variety. If there's something that you feel should be attributed to some-one then feel free to let me know and I'll happily add an acknowledgement.
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